: a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site
I haven't been posting as much to my blog lately. It's partly that I haven't done a good job of protecting my time to write, but also a function of indecision on my part about what type of writing I should be doing. When I started this blog, it was scary. I wrote for a few weeks before letting family members know about the blog - and I still hesitate to share it or discuss it with friends or family that I'm worried will be judgmental. But I've become more comfortable with the voice I use on this blog and with that comfort, I've felt a nudge to move out of my comfort zone to submit articles to magazines. So the last few blog posts I've started have turned into longer form essays that I hope to eventually send out for submission.
Like starting a blog, this is scary for me. One thing I love about blogging is the lack of editing required. I tend to let a post percolate in my mind, type it up and publish it. But when I'm writing something "bigger" I want to edit and edit and edit. I want to polish it until it shines. And I need to find the balance between using my real voice in a piece and fine tuning the piece until my voice is safely hidden behind perfect adjectives and well constructed sentences.
So stay with me. I'll be back here with thoughts and maybe those thoughts will be springboards for things worth sharing with others.
3 comments:
I haven't told any of my family or friends about my personal blog. I have another one for our family, but this one is mine. I don't even use my name, just in case. That way I can talk about anything, anytime and not worry about who is reading it. It's the best way I can think of to have total freedom in writing.
That is exactly what I am going through. I have only told a few people. Mostly people I either trust, people who know the real me or people I know will be at least pleasantly polite. I put a link up on FB, but that is all the advertising I have done. I went from using just first initials of my kids to using complete first names, because I still haven't figured out how anonymous I want to be. We live in an area where the population is so large that the average high school class is 1000 people, with 3 high schools within spitting distance, so it's easy to feel anonymous.
I know what you mean, Allison. I actually use my girls' initials because I think it makes the posts a bit more neutral to read, not because I am trying to protect my children's privacy (they each think it's really cool when I tell them I wrote about them!). I think if I'm reading a story about someone else and names are used, I have a harder time inserting myself there. I also find our city a pretty easy place to be anonymous, but I struggle with not knowing where to go with my writing if I'm not getting any feedback.
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